Why John Durham’s investigation has failed so spectacularly

W

Walt

Back To Reality
The Russia scandal was real, and the Durham investigation was pointless.

Why John Durham’s investigation has failed so spectacularly
For years, Team Trump insisted that the Russia scandal was pointless but John Durham’s investigation was real. Republicans had this entirely backward.
Oct. 19, 2022, 8:00 AM EDT
By Steve Benen

After years of effort, special counsel John Durham and his team had one last chance to prove that their investigation had merit. As NBC News reported, it didn’t go well.

A federal jury acquitted Russian analyst Igor Danchenko on Tuesday on four counts of lying to the FBI in what is expected to be the final case stemming from special counsel John Durham’s three-year probe into the origins of the agency’s investigation into allegations of ties between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

Prosecutors alleged Danchenko provided false information to the FBI in 2017, as part of its efforts to verify information from Christopher Steele’s dossier on Trump’s alleged Russia ties. The case was thin; jurors noticed; and Danchenko was acquitted.

And at that point, the entire Durham probe appeared to reach an ignominious end.

For those who might benefit from a refresher — you’d be forgiven for thinking, “John Durham’s name sounds familiar, but I can’t remember why I’m supposed to care about him” — let’s revisit our earlier coverage and explain how we arrived at this point.

The original investigation into Trump’s Russia scandal, led by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller, led to a series of striking findings: The former president’s political operation in 2016 sought, embraced, capitalized on, and lied about Russian assistance — and then took steps to obstruct the investigation into the foreign interference.

The Trump White House wasn’t pleased with the conclusions, but the Justice Department’s inspector general conducted a lengthy probe of the Mueller investigation, and not surprisingly, the IG’s office found nothing improper.

This, of course, only outraged Trump further, so then-Attorney General Bill Barr tapped a federal prosecutor — U.S. Attorney John Durham — to conduct his own investigation into the investigation. That was over three years ago.

At this point, Durham’s investigation into the Russia scandal investigation has lasted longer than Mueller’s original probe of the Russia scandal.

After an extended period of apparent inactivity, the prosecutor last year indicted cybersecurity attorney Michael Sussmann for allegedly having lied to the FBI. The case proved to be baseless; Sussmann was acquitted; and one of the jurors publicly mocked Durham’s team for having taken the case to trial.

Recommended

MADDOWBLOG
The problem(s) with Marco Rubio’s odd case against new gun laws

MADDOWBLOG
Tuesday’s Mini-Report, 10.18.22
Yesterday, Team Durham failed again to secure a conviction — and by all accounts, there won’t be any additional charges filed against anyone. The tale of the tape is brutal:

Two trials
Zero convictions
One provocative resignation
And a largely meaningless guilty plea from an obscure figure
By any fair measure, this is the most embarrassing and inconsequential special counsel investigation in the modern history of American law enforcement.

But the humiliation is not limited to the prosecutor. Every once in a while, Trump still blurts out Durham’s name, hoping the prosecutor might yet bolster some of the former president’s conspiracy theories. As regular readers may recall, the Republican has even suggested at times that Durham’s probe could serve as a possible vehicle for retaliating against his perceived enemies.

So much for that idea.

Over the summer, The New York Times’ Charlie Savage wrote a report questioning why the Durham investigation existed. He added, “Mr. Barr’s mandate to Mr. Durham appears to have been to investigate a series of conspiracy theories.”

Those theories, however, lacked merit, which is why the Durham probe is ending with a whimper.

There is a degree of irony to the circumstances: For years, Team Trump insisted that the Russia scandal was pointless but the Durham investigation was real. It now appears these Republicans had it exactly backward: The Russia scandal was real, and the Durham investigation was pointless.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow...-investigation-failed-spectacularly-rcna52921
Click to expand...
 
I for one am glad that the idea of Durham's investigation could take place, I have no problem with going back and double checking our government or it's agencies.

But it is funny how much conservatives were hoping he'd be their white knight, just to have him come up with bupkis.
 
Mr.Badguy said:
I for one am glad that the idea of Durham's investigation could take place, I have no problem with going back and double checking our government or it's agencies.

But it is funny how much conservatives were hoping he'd be their white knight, just to have him come up with bupkis.
Click to expand...

How many white knights have they been waiting on since Trump came on the scene? First it was the Donald, and 'lock her up'. The irony of that one is of course incredibly delicious. Then there was Q and the unsealed indictments ready to be opened when the Donald gave the signal, putting hundreds of Democratic pedophiles in jail. Then there was the unredacted FISA warrant. Pffffffffttttt. Then Durham. Then Trump declaring martial law, executing Pelosi, Obama, Clapper, Comey, Brennan, Schiff, AOC and the rest. Last I looked, they were all still alive and well.

Now Stoney, and Hawkeye, and Sheriff Woody and I'm sure many others whose posts I no longer see are predicting the hunting down and jailing of 'the libs'.

You'll have to excuse me for laughing at them.
 
Primavera said:
This ought to be self evident but the fat lady hasn't sung yet!
Click to expand...

It has been 6 years of being told that we were a few days away from the alt right presenting the evidence... When do we admit they have no evidence?

There is no way for Durham to go after the people he has already prosecuted. That means there is a whole strip of people with absolute immunity. Even if he did have evidence, it would be a near impossible case now, but once again, he has no evidence.
 
Mr.Badguy said:
I for one am glad that the idea of Durham's investigation could take place, I have no problem with going back and double checking our government or it's agencies.

But it is funny how much conservatives were hoping he'd be their white knight, just to have him come up with bupkis.
Click to expand...
The IG report by Horowitz did that. There was no need for the Durham investigation. The DOJ could have handled the trial for the procedural error.
 
There was no grand Deep State conspiracy and there was no Kraken conspiracy.

A lot of grifters made a lot of money promoting these lies.
 
That can be explained in a few simple words....

"Because it was based on bullshit to begin with."

Carry on.
 
Walt said:
The Russia scandal was real, and the Durham investigation was pointless.
Click to expand...


Gee, I always thought that John Durham wouldn't ever get a fair shake because the current DOJ and FBI are corrupt to the core (unsalvagably so) and 100% politicized (many of them are veterans of the Obama "Deep State" conspiracy). They are so bent, they couldn't lie straight in bed.



Dachshund - the Wonder Hound


Dachshund Lives Matter !
 
Dachshund said:
Gee, I always thought that John Durham wouldn't ever get a fair shake because the current DOJ and FBI are corrupt to the core (unsalvagably so) and 100% politicized (many of them are veterans of the Obama "Deep State" conspiracy). They are so bent, they couldn't lie straight in bed.
Click to expand...

If everyone was corrupt, as you claim, it would be easy to catch someone... ANYONE.
 
Mr.Badguy said:
I for one am glad that the idea of Durham's investigation could take place, I have no problem with going back and double checking our government or it's agencies.

But it is funny how much conservatives were hoping he'd be their white knight, just to have him come up with bupkis.
Click to expand...




Now the house GOP is going to triple check this while wasting millions of tax dollars
 
They’re going to investigate why Democrats are so darn mean to Republican “activists” and the corrupt FPOTUS.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top